In Void 2 and Void 1, an obstacle was added to the pavement that pedestrians had to avoid. Obstacles were later removed digitally. Void 0 represents a situation of free momovement, a state without any blockages.

A walk on the subtle play of trajectories in space, with our own bodies being a dynamic obstacle for others.

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Welcome to the Urban Obstacles Guided Tour

Today we will take you on an half an hour walk. David Helbich and myself, Thomas Laureyssens, will be your guides. We won't say much during the walk, except for some brief interruptions and commentaries.

The essence of our walk is the subtle play of movement in space. We would like you to watch, feel and listen carefully, intensively. Observing both yourself, us as a group and the dynamics that play with the other users of the city. This project is not so much about actual route we are walking, more about the interactions that we create while walking it.

The city is a complex emergent system in constant evolution, impossible to grasp as a whole. Meanings on the city are formed by trajectories through this emerging mass. These trajectories are not without their subtle influence: in the act of walking we 'occupy' the space when we walk through it. We reconfigure the space by the simple act of being there. Even when we are just passive observers, we can be obstacles for others in their own trajectories. In a dynamic system, there is no such thing as an indefinite obstacle. There are only changed trajectories.

As the practicalities of this walk concerned, David and I will both follow slightly different trajectories. It's up to you to decide which one of us to follow, you create your own walk. And may I ask you - the participants - to stay silent during the walk. Speak only the bare necessary, since chattery is an obstacle to the observation of the subtle. And is subtlety that we're looking for in this walk.

Pedestrian Levitation visualises the real flow of people, adding a poetic layer that denies physical limitations such as gravity, in an attempt to inspire people to dream and look beyond their current situations.

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Pedestrian Levitation is an artwork based on the movement of pedestrians on a public space. Some pedestrians walk only on the sidewalk and use the pedestrian crossing for crossing the street, others make free interpretations on the pedestrian infrastructure that urban designers came up with. Pedestrian Levitation visualises the real flow of people, adding a poetic layer that denies physical limitations such as gravity, in an attempt to inspire people to dream and look beyond their current situations.

The bird-eye video Pedestrian Levitation Research of was recorded on the roof of a building and analysed frame by frame with animation software. A pattern of movement of the pedestrians was extracted by reworking this recording frame by frame with video animation software: it is as if pedestrians draw lines though the space. The pattern that was obtained by the Pedestrian Levitation Research video was the basis of the installation in public space.

The pattern that was obtained by the Pedestrian Levitation Research video was the basis of an installation in urban space, adding poetic layer that denies physical limitations such as gravity.

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Pedestrian Levitation is an artwork based on the movement of pedestrians on a public space. Some pedestrians walk only on the sidewalk and use the pedestrian crossing for crossing the street, others make free interpretations on the pedestrian infrastructure that urban designers came up with. Pedestrian Levitation visualises the real flow of people, adding a poetic layer that denies physical limitations such as gravity, in an attempt to inspire people to dream and look beyond their current situations.

The bird-eye video Pedestrian Levitation Research of was recorded on the roof of a building and analysed frame by frame with animation software. A pattern of movement of the pedestrians was extracted by reworking this recording frame by frame with video animation software: it is as if pedestrians draw lines though the space. The pattern that was obtained by the Pedestrian Levitation Research video was the basis of the installation in public space.